In 2023, the Studios at MASS MoCA and The Berkshire Immigrant Center started the Iris Residency to support artists in Western or Central Massachusetts who are born outside the U.S., or identify as first or second generation American. The exhibition, MIGRITUDE (a word coined by Shailja Patel) showcases the work of the five selected Iris Residency fellows - Cima Khademi, Clemente Sajquiy, Marina Dominguez, Hanna Sobolieva, and Shailja Patel - and their different approaches to the continuous process of building connections to both, the old and the new place.
The exhibition MIGRITUDE is curated by the Iris Fellowship coordinators, Carolina Porras-Monroy and Luiza Folegatti.
*To learn more about the Iris Residency: assetsforartists.org/iris-residency
**MIGRITUDE (Kaya Press, 2010) is the bestselling book, based on the internationally touring one-woman show, of poet, activist and exhibiting artist Shailja Patel. The word MIGRITUDE captures the concepts of migrant attitudes and migrants with attitude. It represents a reclaiming of voice and power by migrants who speak for themselves.
Many Latin American communities celebrate a girl’s fifteenth birthday with a party called a quinceañera. Traditionally, a girl’s father joins her on the dance floor for a special waltz, just the two of them. One family portrayed in this show transformed this tradition when the mother invited all her friends to dance with their daughters. Their faces gleamed with tenderness and pride. All of a sudden, each mother-daughter pair whirled and began exchanging their daughters, spinning through the space as they danced in new constellations, always shining with the same joy.
As the artist became a mother in a new country herself, she got to know mothers in
the area, who are not only pillars of their nuclear families, but also of their communities.
Building on deep friendships, these mothers created a strong support network that
continues to expand and strengthen in the form of the non-profit Latinas 413, which highlights Latinas’ growing role in the Berkshires’ landscape.
Mothering in Migration is part of an ongoing collaboration between Folegatti and Latinas413 that aims to strengthen local support for immigrant mothers. Through photography sessions, interviews, and workshops, the families and the artist worked around their connection to the landscape, the support network built between the households, and the strategies to move each other forward created in the intimacy of the mother-daughter relationship.
The show is curated by Carolina Porras-Monroy as part of Gallery 51’s summer series about migration.
A Space for Spirits introduces the work of three Indigenous artists working with materiality and form. Each artists intentional use of materials are rooted in their own cultural heritage and personal experiences, employing both natural and synthetic materials to explore themes of historical suppression, bodily autonomy, and communal ties. Ash, wax, metal, porcupine quills, paper, animal hide, and plants are central to their narratives. As their works visit new understandings and connections are fostered.
Mikayla Patton Sculpture
All exhibitions and events are open to the MCLA community and the general public.
